During this Month in History... When Caravelle Saigon opened to the public on Christmas Eve 1959 in a flurry of crystal champagne flutes and silver canape trays, a local newspaper reporter covering the glitzy opening event also included an excited description of the hotels most striking features. He extolled the extravagant use of Italian marble; of French security glass, used for the first time in Vietnam; and the installation of a private Berliet backup generator in case of power outages. Saigons sweltering daily heat and soporific humidity, typical of the region, had always been a long-suffered and much-lamented mainstay of city life. Under colonial rule, the French had found the heat so intolerable that for six months of the year the entire Indochine administration was relocated from the city to the temperate climes of Dalat – a hill-station that had been built as a refuge in the mountains 300 kilometres to the northeast.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 06:33:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015